Computational Psychology

The digital revolution has had a momentous impact on almost every facet of social life. This sea change offers social psychologists new tools to deploy in their quest to understand human behavior and new types of social interaction to study. In a short time span, large data sets have emerged containing “digital footprints” of people’s behavior, communication, and social interactions. The size and robustness of such samples offer new opportunities to enhance our understanding of individuals, groups, and societies, but their analysis presents unique methodological and ethical challenges. The data are also largely derived from new technologies, ranging from smartphones to social media, which facilitate interactions that seemed inconceivable in the days of Allport, Asch, and Lewin; it will be the task of social psychologists to examine these new forms of behavior, their impact, and how these nascent technologies can be used to improve individual and collective well-being.